very aggressively root pruning a couple large Picea abies?
davidrt28 (zone 7)
7 months ago
last modified: 7 months ago
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bengz6westmd
7 months agoRelated Discussions
Cutting back vigorous growing leaders (Picea & Abies)
Comments (35)Oh thanks to you both...the zone thing is really confusing especially out here in the land of the microclimates. We used to be 8b which never made sense to me, now are 9b which is much more realistic, but we do much better with the Sunset zones which take account of the proximity to the ocean, elevation, etc. I am in the milder part of 9b (I can even keep Bouganvillea going, it just freezes to the ground every 5-6 years) (I hate it - it is here because my husband likes it!) and we do have summer fog not infrequently as we are not far from the ocean. We are the opposite of the midwest in that our summers are dry (until the fog comes in) and our winters are humid. What we hear from the conifer aficionados out here is that even if you water using drip (which I do), the conifers need overhead water from time to time, especially in a heat wave. I have a big sprinkler that I move around periodically to give everything a shower. Keeps things cleaner, too, as we generally get no rain between April and October. Thanks all for your info. I have learned so much from this forum. Here is a link that might be useful: Form and Foliage...See MorePicea abies photo gallery 2010
Comments (20)Thanks for adding to the gallery guys. Seems a bit strange for me to keep posting to myself! :) Thanks for the compliments too, hearing it from conifer legends always makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. More more and more! This is madness!... Picea abies 'Suncrest'. New to me, a nice tight, bluish color miniature, bought at Coenosium Gardens. 'Gold Dust'. An unusually 'leggy' small dwarf with highly unusual colors as the new foliage eventually becomes more golden and mixes well with the older blue/green. 'Perry's Gold'. Pretty bright! New growth eventually reverts to a more dark green. This specimen is in almost full shade. Awesome! 'Vermont Gold' A sport from 'Repens' I believe, grows laterally into a wide shrub, new growth is delicately gold and burns in full sun here. 'Clanbrassiliana Stricta'. A bit more of a cone shaped dwarf. 'Nidiformis'. Common, available at many box stores and in my opinion, still a pretty nice plant. 'Hasin'. Doing some wierd things, I'd better take a look and prune back that barberry! Usually a super-tight miniature similar to 'Dumpy'. 'Malena'. A great looking small dwarf with unusual needle shape, mine received too much sun last year, suffered some damage and this Winter found a new home. 'Aarburg'. A twisting, weeping, chaotic 'Dr. Suess' tree. Saw it for the first time at Coenosium Gardens and had to have one. Eventually gets pretty wide(not too tall), but I think it will be happy enough here in 5-6 hours of sun. Picea abies seems to handle part shade very well. Many of mine are in filtered sun with 3-4 hours of direct sun. 'Gold Drift'. Only one of the best, a strongly weeping, fast growing tree essential to any conifer collection. More when I have time, please feel free to add some of yours. -Will...See MorePicea abies/pungens - planting question
Comments (4)hey welcome ... see link for a favored planting guide ... many of us.. fully bare root trees at planting.. and to do that.. you need to be planting in the proper planting season ... early spring.. or later fall .. depending where you are ... z5 is to large to make presumptions ... and the bottom line... if you are thinking of moving beyond bigboxstore green trees ... is to find some better sources .. crikey ... lol ... most of us mail order the finer specimens.. favoring small size for both shipping and cost ... or order in larger specimens form the left coast to a higher end local nursery .... i call green species trees [the ones with two latin names.. w/o a 'cultivar name'] .... telephone poles in the making ... depending on your garden size ... they are usually forest trees.. and have vast potential.. over the decades ... and as such.. should not be closer than 30 to 50 feet from a house .... i never buy ball and burlap ... mostly because they are outside my physical capability if of any size ... they always have a guy to hoik that sucker in your truck at the store ..... but who helps you at home... lol ... are you thinking of moving into the fancier plants???? we could probably make some suggestions where are you .. and whats your native soil ... clay, sand or something in between??? ken ps: if you continue to buy bigboxstore bargains [and there is nothing wrong with this if its makes you happy] ... just plant them and forget all this hocus pocus.. and use your warranty if they fail within a year ....its like you want a Cadillac planting guide for Yugo tree .. lol ... IMHO ,... the most important variable on transplant.. is two years of deep proper watering.. subject to your soil type [drainage].. and it should all be covered at the link ... Here is a link that might be useful: link...See More'After' photos (sort of) and a couple questions
Comments (20)Ken, no fluffing for me. I scuffed up the turf about an inch, just enough to break up the dead turf. Soil was dry as a bone and crumbly all on it's own with no mechanical intervention, unless you are counting the actual digging. The only place we get run-off here is on the driveway, 500' of packed road rock. I still appreciate the tips, for those times when I do run across such situations. Will, it is deceiving...We have a few trees, but really very little considering we are on five acres and two of the trees are not plantable under, being in the dog yard (and one being an apple tree.) We are actually very exposed here. It makes for most excellent views but does not leave a lot of room for mystery. I am making it two of my goals to 1) create some spaces that will stop the eye but not block our best views and 2) find ways to create some mystery here in the wide open. Here is another reason to be grateful for your location, none of this: two winters ago it was drifted this deep over our entire driveway for two days following a huge blizzard! This was the path I had to shovel to the barn:...See Moredavidrt28 (zone 7)
7 months agoBillMN-z-2-3-4
7 months agodavidrt28 (zone 7)
7 months agodavidrt28 (zone 7)
7 months agodavidrt28 (zone 7)
7 months ago
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